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I will be maintaining radio silence today. Not because I’m mute on the status of the election. I’ll just be busy.
I have planned to go get in line at my voting precinct at 7am. Then I will check in at the local headquarters (if I have time left over) before I go and work as a Democratic Poll Watcher. I will pick up my roommate from work and take her to our polling precinct, then, go back to the headquarters and see if anyone else needs a ride to the polls.
After that, I’ll probably take some medicine (I’m sick as a dog) and a nap before I head to the election party. I’m so excited that we have a chance for CHANGE!!!! It really is a beautiful thing to speak to a woman that is taking care of an 84 year old African-American woman–one who marched in Selma, Alabama and who has waited her whole life for this chance; now, she has validation that her fight during the civil rights era was worth it. Yes, maybe this is not based on the facts about the candidate, but the symbolism is so important to a dying generation, and I cannot deny their reason for getting behind Barack Obama.
On a serious note, I’d like to see two things happen:
- No matter which candidate wins, I want us to CONTINUE to hold them accountable. But I want to also lend the President-elect support as the future leader of our country. As much as I am a supporter of Barack Obama, ifhe renigs on promises or brings about detrimental changes (doubtful, but for the sake of argument), I WILL BE THE FIRST TO SCREAM LIKE HELL. My hope is that neither of them could possibly be as bad for America as Bush and his administration, so lets all hope for the same thing–and make our voices heard. This is supposed to be a participative democracy, right?
- Let’s go back to being neighbors, spouses, lovers, friends, acquaintances–and do it civilly. If this election is all it took to fracture our nation irreparably, then we need to really re-evaluate what it means to be an American citizen in a geographically vast, intellectually diverse, country. The distance separates us, but our opinions shouldn’t. The First Amendment not only protects what we say; it also gives us cause to tolerate/encourage others to exercise their right as well.
I AM VOTING FOR BARACK OBAMA AND JOE BIDEN TODAY. ARE YOU?
No, not some new incredible fact about either candidate. This is a game, but a neat one (and no, not PalinAsPresident either).
This game is called Budget Hero, and I’d run across it before, but forgot to post the link. From the site’s 
FAQ, I learned that:
Budget Hero seeks to provide a values- and fiscal-based lens for citizens to examine policy debates during this election year. Partisan messages tend to cloud the real issues at play during campaigns, and most candidates are loath to attach detailed financial impacts to solutions which make up their platform. Budget Hero provides an interactive experience involving policy options that have been extensively researched and vetted with non-partisan government and think tank experts to enable players to objectively evaluate candidates.
What exactly prompted Marketplace (you might recognize the radio program’s name from NPR/American Public Media newscasts) to feel a need to create this little game as a vehicle for information? Hopefully we’re not so simple nowadays that a game is the only way we’ll understand it all! As someone who has used and seen such devices being used in the classroom, I can tell you that playing around with Budget Hero is well worth the time for students and the rest of us adults. I learned that I am a fiscal conservative–tell that to my checking account–but still, I learned something! As a plus, it outlines the rules and gives information for any choices you might make on spending and taxing fairly well.
Excellent game!!
Play it here.
Breathe a tentative sigh of relief, fellow Democrats. We actually have the economy to thank for something right now, and that something could also speak volumes about John McCain’s character.
In all fairness, Obama did renig on a promise to accept only public funds if McCain did. Obama currently outspends McCain on advertising, with a ratio of about 4:1. McCain is limited to $84.1 mil for the entire campaign. Obama’s popularity has helped him to raise $100 mil in September alone, an unfair advantage, although you should take note that this happened in a bad economy. If that is any indicator at all of Obama’s popularity, I would say he’s well liked. If that is any indicator of Obama’s fundriasing capability, the economic crisis had better watch its “six” if we elect him. But how much would McCain have raised if he’d chosen to stay away from the Federal Election Commision’s public funding?
Tyrannosaurus McRex...the advertising he's stuck with.
McCain, however, did choose public funding, which might not have been so bad if he was a popular enough candidate to coast on the “sound bytes” and catchy slogans (remember “Country First”) that come from the campaign trail…usually passed on for free by word of mouth. If we were in a better economy, maybe McCain’s friends in big business would be willing to donate, not money, but services that are allowable. Or, consider who pays for independent advertising, on behalf of the campaigns? How exactly does that money get donated to congressional politicians during the election cycle–so that the Republican National Committee can split costs with him (and they don’t earn as much in this anti-Republican atmosphere).
Geez, I’m starting to sound like a Republican, characterizing McCain as the underdog.
Underdog or not, McCain has not chosen to take the “high road” in a majority of his ads, even with the limited funds he has to work with. If we Obama supporters (growing daily!) have been unimpressed with McCain, it is because a) Obama can counter any negative ad McCain puts on the air, and b) Obama’s positive messages far outnumber McCain’s often within moments of the negative spots. Perhaps if the economy were better for the richest among us, they would be coming out of their pockets in support. Perhaps if McCain’s message were more clear, they would know their independent efforts would help him in the eyes of the American voter.
Maybe his most influential supporters are such die-hard capitalists that they would rather let this market–John McCain, himself–fail.
The Meaning of SIGMA 